Billionaire Ambani’s Jio to debut after record India IPO

India’s Jio Platforms makes its stock market debut on Wednesday after a record-breaking IPO, capping billionaire owner Mukesh Ambani’s years-long drive to diversify his conglomerate beyond oil refining.

Jio Platforms, which houses the country’s biggest wireless operator and is the digital services arm of Ambani’s Reliance Industries, raised about US$3.2 billion at 1,119 rupees (US$11.76) per share in India’s biggest-ever initial public offering.

The listing, one of the year’s most anticipated, attracted robust demand last week, with investors applying for more than 22 times the shares on offer.

In the run-up to its Mumbai debut, grey market platforms showed a premium of around 22% for Jio shares, although experts caution that such unofficial indicators can be unreliable predictors of early trading.

Nevertheless, most analysts expect decent listing gains despite a weak year for Indian equities.

Jio has a “proven execution record” and will see its cash generation “strengthening as the 5G investment cycle winds down”, analysts at financial services firm Emkay Global said in a note, calling the company “the digital engine of India”.

Launched a decade ago, Jio’s wireless service disrupted the market with steep discounts, rapidly winning customers from rivals Bharti Airtel and Vodafone.

With over 530 million subscribers, the firm currently makes most of its money from telecoms, but has expanded in recent years into digital services and artificial intelligence.

Experts say Jio is key to Reliance’s strategy to move beyond oil and underpins its future technology ambitions.

Local media have reported how it is considering a low Earth orbit satellite constellation to provide internet services from space — a venture that would see it compete with Musk’s Starlink, which has been trying for years to launch in India.

Musk accused unnamed Indian “oligarchs” this month of preventing Starlink’s rollout in the country, and referred to the Reliance chairman as “Prime Minister Ambani” and the “real boss of India”.

Reliance responded by noting that it had never “feared competition” and welcomed offerings from rivals in satellite communications, including Starlink.

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